USF women's soccer hosting Florida, Clemson

USF women's soccer released its 2013 schedule on Wednesday, with the Bulls playing host to Florida on Sept. 15 as part of an upgraded nonconference schedule that also includes matches against Clemson, South Carolina and Texas.

"We felt like we were a really strong team last year and felt like we should have gotten into the NCAA Tournament, and we wanted to make sure our strength of schedule was a little bit above that of last year," coach Denise Schilte-Brown said Wednesday. "If we're in that scenario again, it's not going to be an RPI issue."

Florida finished last year ranked No. 8 nationally in RPI, and the Bulls will open play in the American Athletic Conference on Sept. 27 at Central Florida, which was No. 20 in the final RPI. Other opponents carry recognizable names, but had losing seasons last year -- the Bulls open the year at Texas (8-10-2 in 2012) on Aug. 25, then have Clemson (6-10-2) at home on Aug. 30 and travel to play South Carolina (7-10-4) on Sept. 12.

USF hasn't played host to Florida at least since joining the Big East in 2005; the Bulls lost matches to the Gators in Gainesville in 2007 and 2009. Schilte-Brown said the series with Texas and South Carolina are home-and-home agreements that will have the Longhorns and Gamecocks playing in Tampa in future seasons.

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